Making Birding Fun Again
Meet Rick Szabo—adventurer, nature enthusiast, NBC's Destination X Season 1 winner, and your guide to discovering the world one bird at a time.
Rick's Story
From Cubicle to Canopy
Rick Szabo knows what it feels like to be trapped behind a screen. For years, he worked in finance and entrepreneurship—the classic 9-to-5 grind (okay, more like 7-to-7). Spreadsheets. Meetings. Fluorescent lights. The steady hum of losing connection to anything real.
Birding started as a distraction. A way to reclaim lunch breaks. A reason to look up instead of down at his phone. What began as casual backyard bird watching evolved into something much bigger during a family safari in Africa with his young children. There, amidst the acacia trees and vast savannas, Rick spotted a Lilac-breasted Roller—a bird so stunning it stopped him in his tracks. Iridescent blues and purples catching the golden light. That moment changed everything.
That bird became his "spark bird"—the one that ignited a passion he didn't know he needed.
Finding His Zone of Genius
A few years ago, Rick started guiding birding tours. And something clicked. This was it. His zone of genius wasn't in boardrooms or profit margins—it was in connecting people with nature and helping them see their dream bird.
Rick discovered he had a gift: making people fall in love with birds. Whether you've never held binoculars or you've been birding for decades, Rick meets you where you are. He listens to what you want to see, and then he moves heaven and earth to make it happen. When someone spots their dream bird for the first time, Rick's enthusiasm is genuine and infectious—because he remembers exactly what that feeling is like.
More Than Just a Guide
Today, Rick is a full time birder, and travel content creator whose adventures inspire thousands of people to get outside and explore. His YouTube channel focuses on travel adventures that blend birding, culture, food, and the pure joy of discovery. He's not here to lecture you about subspecies classifications—he's here to show you that birding can be FUN.
In 2025, Rick's sharp observation skills and deep knowledge of the natural world earned him the title of NBC's Destination X Season 1 Winner—a travel geogueessing competition that proved what birders have always known: when you really pay attention to nature, you see the world differently
The Self-Taught Journey
Rick didn't grow up with birding guides or ornithology textbooks. He taught himself through curiosity, countless hours in the field, and an obsession with understanding the natural world. Over the past decade, he's birded across North America, New Zealand, Africa, Vietnam, Mexico, Costa Rica, and the prairies of Saskatchewan. He's woken up before dawn in cloud forests, tracked shorebirds along remote coastlines, and sat quietly in wetlands waiting for that one elusive species.
His home base? Naples, Florida and Prince Edward County, Ontario —one of Canada's premier bird migration hotspots. If you can't find Rick on a retreat somewhere in the world, he's likely in the Everglades or leading a tour through Prince Edward County’s incredible seasonal migrations.
Why Birding With Rick is Different
Built for the New Era of Birders
Let's be real: traditional bird tours were built for retirees with unlimited time and energy. Jam-packed itineraries. Basic accommodations. Dining that's more about fuel than flavor. Goal-driven checklists where the focus is quantity over quality.
Rick built Birding With Rick for a different generation—millennials, Gen Z, and anyone who's tired of the old-school birding culture. People who work demanding jobs (or work from home and desperately need to leave home). People who hear the mountains calling but only have a long weekend to answer. People who are drowning in screen time and desperately need to touch grass—real, actual grass.
His own son, now in his 20s, is part of this new generation of birders. Through him, Rick understands exactly what young adventurers need: authentic experiences without the stuffiness, nature connection without the pressure, and memories that don't require a perfect Instagram post to validate them
Rest, Reset, Reconnect
We're all burned out. From hustle culture. From doomscrolling. From the constant pressure to perform, produce, and document everything. Rick's retreats are designed as an antidote to all of that.
These aren't tours where you come home needing a vacation from your vacation. They're intentionally paced to let your nervous system actually reset. Morning birding when the light is magical and the birds are active. Afternoons for rest, exploration, or simply sitting in nature without an agenda. Evenings with excellent food, comfortable beds, and real conversation.
Rick's philosophy is simple: Be in nature. Don't just do nature.
Anti-Goal, Pro-Joy
Rick isn't here to help you tick off 500 species in a week. He's not interested in competitive birding or turning every moment into a checklist achievement.
He wants you to experience the magic of watching a hummingbird hover inches from your face. To feel the awe of seeing a raptor soar against a mountain backdrop. To laugh with fellow adventurers when a bird does something ridiculous. To sit in comfortable silence watching the sunset with binoculars in hand.
Rick is making birding fun again—removing the elitism, the competition, and the pressure. Just curiosity, wonder, and connection.
Rick's Approach
Partnership with Local Experts
Rick knows he can't know every corner of the world intimately. That's why he partners with exceptional local guides who bring deep regional knowledge and cultural context to every retreat. These partnerships ensure you're seeing species and locations that typical tourists never discover.
Patient & People-First
Rick listens. Really listens. Before each retreat, he learns about your expectations, your experience level, and your dream birds. If there's a specific species you're hoping to see, Rick will stop at very little to make that happen for you.
Whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned birder, Rick creates space for everyone. No judgment. No pressure. Just support, encouragement, and genuine enthusiasm.
Full of Joy
When Rick sees an incredible bird, his excitement is contagious. He whoops. He grins. He gestures wildly. Because even after thousands of bird sightings, the magic hasn't worn off. That energy—that pure, unfiltered joy—is what makes his retreats special.
Conservation Commitment
Rick is a proud supporter of the National Audubon Society and advocates passionately for bird preservation and natural habitat protection. He believes that the best way to protect birds is to help people fall in love with them—because people protect what they love.
Every Birding With Rick retreat is designed with sustainability in mind. We partner with eco-conscious accommodations, support local conservation efforts, and ensure our groups leave minimal environmental impact.
Rick's Life Beyond Birding
Rick is married and the proud father of three adult children and two daughters-in-law. When he's not leading retreats or creating travel content, you'll find him exploring Naples, Florida or Prince Edward County's trails, experimenting with bird social media, or planning the next big adventure.
His favorite bird? Still the Lilac-breasted Roller. Always will be.
The Vision
Rick's dream is simple but ambitious: to build a global network of birding retreats that help people reset, reconnect with nature, and fall in love with birds. He wants to add more destinations, partner with more incredible local operators, and create a community of modern birders who value experience over ego.
Whether you're escaping a demanding career, seeking adventure, or simply curious about the natural world, Rick wants to help you discover what that Lilac-breasted Roller showed him years ago:
There's a whole world of beauty out there. You just have to look up.